5 Ways Annie Might Spend Her 21st Birthday
by Elsiesnuffin
Summary: Annie and Jeff in 5 different scenarios.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: 'Community' and its characters belong to NBC and Dan Harmon. **

"She is so cute," Annie murmured to herself as she pulled her other leg up onto the couch. She crossed them under her, indian style before turning the volume up and setting the remote back down. On the television screen, Betty strutted down a street in Queens, her new horrifying makeover in place. "How can people not see how adorable she is?" she asked no one. There was a level of sadness in the fact that Annie didn't even have a cat to talk to in cases like this.

Once she'd gotten home from school that afternoon, Annie had showered and slipped on her most comfortable pajamas and curled up on the couch with season one of 'Ugly Betty' on DVD. Her cell phone sat on the scarred coffee table she'd found in the alley behind the building, set to vibrate and completely ignored every time it rang. So far she had 'missed' calls from her father, her grandmother and her friend Colby from rehab. Annie was just biding her time, waiting out the night. Tomorrow would be better. It would have to be.

As if her phone knew she was thinking of it, it gave a short shudder. She had a text message. Picking it up cautiously, Annie realized it was from Jeff. She flipped it open with a sigh.

_Do you have the answers for the anthro hw?_

Of course he was looking to copy off her work for class. Annie shook her head to herself and paused the DVD before answering his text.

_I read them to everyone this afternoon. U should pay more attention._

She flipped the phone closed again and placed it back on the coffee table before picking up the comb that sat next to it. She hit play on the remote and began to carefully part her hair. Half her hair was pulled over her shoulder and she began to braid it tightly into a pigtail. Her phone vibrated again, but she let it sit there ignored until she had finished her pigtail. When she had secured the end with a band, Annie finally picked up the phone again.

_Pull the stick out- ur acting like britta. ill ask shirley._

Annie exhaled, irritated. She rose from the couch and walked the short distance to her fridge and pulled out a beer that she'd bought with her own ID on the way home earlier. She was home alone on her twenty-first birthday, sadly watching a five year old DVD set from a series that had been cancelled and braiding her hair as she sat in pajamas that she'd bought at Target.

Her life was really this sad.

Her phone vibrated again, this time it was a call. Annie leaned forward and picked it up. Jeff was calling. Annie rolled her eyes and thought about sending it to voicemail before she flipped it open.

"Hello," she said as pleasantly as she could.

"Why didn't you tell anyone it was your birthday?" Jeff asked, his accusatory tone making Annie flinch.

Annie sat up straighter, surprised. "Who told you?" she responded.

"Shirley heard from Garrett who was told by Leonard who saw Ferris pass out at Thirty-One Flavors," Jeff replied sarcastically.

"Jeff…" Annie sighed, not in the mood for his 'look how cute I am' schtick tonight.

"Annie, all last winter you bugged me about accepting your friend request. Now you're surprised that I finally did?"

She sighed and relaxed back against the cushions. She had almost made it the entire day. When she'd woken up that morning, Annie Edison had been in as good of a mood as she ever had been. It was only when she had managed to make it through the first half of her day without even a mention of what the date was that she'd started to sour toward the idea altogether. By the time she'd left study group and walked to her car in the parking lot, Annie had decided that birthdays kind of suck and this was why adults always pretended they didn't exist in the first place.

"I…didn't think it was a big deal," Annie answered after a moment's pause.

Jeff chuckled on the other end of the line. "You make everything into a big deal."

Annie sighed and took a sip of her beer. "Yeah, but people who make a big deal of their own birthdays are jerks."

"True," Jeff replied. "But you could have at least mentioned it. Like 'if anyone was wondering, it is in fact a milestone in my life today'."

"Yeah, that sounds jerky," Annie retorted in into the receiver. "Did you really just call to chastise me?"

"I don't need your standardized test vocabulary, Edison," Jeff shot back. "So, what are you doing tonight?"

"Um," Annie stalled, trying to come up with a really exciting-sounding lie in a matter of seconds. "I'm watching television?" Okay, so she wasn't good on her feet. "And then I'm going to eat a frozen pizza."

"What?" he asked incredulously. "Annie, you can't spend your twenty-first birthday alone in your apartment eating frozen pizza. Come on, let's go out." Annie frowned to herself. "I'll call everyone."

"Please, no." Annie felt her voice grow strong surprisingly quickly. "Troy's birthday was a terrible night."

"It wasn't so bad," Jeff defended feebly.

"You think that because you were drunk," Annie replied as she took a long pull from her beer bottle. "But trust me, it was just a long sad evening." Her mouth quirked up sadly. "My plan is just to quietly get a year older."

"When did you get so jaded?" he asked, laughter in his voice.

Annie's answer was out of her mouth before she had a chance to think about it. "I guess I spend too much time with you."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone.

"Jeff?" she questioned cautiously.

"I'm here," he answered in a detached tone. "Annie, you know that when I-"

"I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Annie cut him off.

He paused. "Yeah, okay."

"Night," she said quietly.

"Night," Jeff echoed before Annie ended the call.

Annie laid her head back against the couch and sighed. Okay, so she probably should have sent him to voicemail. There was no reason to give him such a guided tour of her fragile psyche. She started the DVD and the characters sprang to life on screen. Annie allowed herself to get sucked into the world of Mode while braiding her other pigtail. Just as she was finishing the first disc, there was a knock on the door. With a smile, Annie rose from the couch. Ms. Kingsbury, who lived above the bookstore next door had said she was going to stop by with cookies. Annie wrenched the door open without checking the peephole. She realized a moment later that she definitely should have.

Jeff filled her doorway, a smirk firmly in place on his handsome face. In one hand, he held a large brown paper bag. In the other, a small pink box. A cardboard party hat sat crookedly on his head. Annie smiled uncertainly up at him. "Jeff?" she greeted.

"I'm happy to see you too," he grinned sarcastically as he gestured for her to get out of his way so he could enter the apartment. She stepped back and he entered. Instantly, Annie felt as if she might as well strip off her clothes and show him her oddly-shaped birthmark. Having Jeff in her apartment, where she slept, was completely unsettling.

Her imminent emotional breakdown didn't phase Jeff at all, as he collapsed on her small couch and glanced fleetingly at the television screen before opening the paper bag on her coffee table and began pulling cartons out of it. "Okay, so I know you like something chicken," he began as he pulled several containers from the bag. "I just couldn't remember which kind, so I got like four different ones." He held out a pair of wrapped chopsticks toward her and Annie slowly moved toward her couch, watching him with a wary gaze.

"You brought me chinese," she stated as she gingerly dropped into the empty space next to him.

"You didn't eat, did you?" he asked, glancing toward her kitchen area.

Annie shook her head. "I hadn't gotten around to it yet."

"Okay well," he waved his hand over the top of the feast he'd laid out on her table. "Then yes, I brought chinese."

She leaned forward and perused the cartons as he opened them for her. She pulled the cashew chicken from his grasp and he met her gaze briefly before picking up a carton for himself and leaning back against her cushions. "Okay, so what are we watching?"

"'Ugly Betty'?" Annie answered hesitantly.

Jeff nodded. "This is the show where they put glasses on some hot girl and we're supposed to pretend she's not hot, right?"

Annie let out a breathy chuckle. "Something like that."

He turned his head to look at her. "Nice pigtails, by the way."

She tried to speak around a mouthful of chicken, but settled for giving him a dirty look. He chuckled as she chewed and swallowed quickly. "Thank you."

"How old are you again?" he asked with a smirk.

"Seven," Annie responded sarcastically as she dug through her food to pick out the cashews. When she glanced up at him, Jeff was looking at her thoughtfully. Annie blinked at him several times.

"Hey," he started, seeming concerned about his words. "What you said earlier about being jaded because you spend so much time with me?"

Annie shook her head. "Jeff, I was just…" She shrugged in a non-committal fashion. "I just didn't have a very good day." She gave him an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry if I made it sound like I was blaming you."

Jeff sat forward and placed his food on the table before fully turning toward her. Annie bit her lower lip nervously. "Look, I know I give you a hard time for being a kid." She frowned at him. "And that Zac Efron poster hanging on the wall behind me isn't exactly helping your case, but…" He sighed. "I think I sometimes confuse your…optimism for naivety." His mouth quirked up on one side, giving her an contrite smile. "I just…it's good that you're able to be…the way you are, so…" He awkwardly patted her flannel-covered knee and Annie watched the way his hand looked touching her, trying to lock it into her memory.

She cleared her throat and set her container down as well. "So, what's in the box?" Annie asked, nodding her head toward the small forgotten box he'd brought with him. He glanced at it and bobbed his head slightly, as if just remembering it was there. He picked it up and handed it to her. Annie flipped open the top and giggled.

Inside sat an oversized cupcake, smeared with teal frosting and bearing the 'Hannah Montana' logo.

"My choices weren't that great," Jeff noted, leaning over to look at it. "It was this or Nascar."

"You made the right decision," Annie nodded as she pulled the cupcake out of the box. "I'm really not into car racing. At least not the legal kind." She smiled up at him, but faltered when she met his eye. He was looking at her enigmatically, and it was disconcerting for some reason.

"I'm not singing," he stated, his eyebrows going up. Annie tried to keep the smile off her face. "I'm serious."

"Okay," Annie nodded solemnly. Then, she cocked her head to the side and smiled warmly at him. "Thank you, Jeff." He rolled his eyes slightly. "This is the nicest birthday party I've ever had."

"That is really sad," he replied flatly. Annie chuckled at the truth of that statement. "And this is not a party." He clasped his hands together. "In fact, we don't have to tell anyone that I came over at all."

Annie nodded, understanding. "Heaven forbid someone hear that you might actually care about people." She carefully dipped her finger into the frosting and licked it off. "You want half of this?" she asked, holding it toward him.

"I already ate like three hundred carbs today, so I'm going to pass." Jeff rubbed a hand across his firm stomach.

Annie shrugged and licked her way around the outside of the cupcake, ignoring the shake of Jeff's head. "Or is it about it being me?" she asked daringly after a moment's silence.

"Is what about you?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"The whole thing where I don't mention that you're a nice guy," Annie answered, continuing to lick the frosting off the cupcake without taking her eyes off of his face. He swallowed and frowned. "You don't want to be the guy who brings a young girl dinner on her birthday when she didn't actually tell him where she lived?" She raised her eyebrows significantly.

"You're not young," Jeff answered in a non-answering kind of way. "You're twenty-one." He leaned back and put his feet up on her coffee table. "And no one should be alone on their birthday."

"I'm going to remind you of that on Starburns' birthday," Annie shot back with a grin which Jeff returned. Annie relaxed into the couch and when her knee landed against Jeff's thigh, he glanced over at her.

"Happy birthday Annie." His voice was surprisingly soft, his face more relaxed than he usually allowed it to be.

"Thank you," she answered in a voice barely above a whisper. She gave him a tremulous smile before turning her head back to the television set. Neither one of them commented on where her knee was, or the way he casually rested his elbow on it after another hour.

Neither of them spoke of the evening ever again.


	2. Chapter 2

"This was such a good idea!" Shirley chirped as the tabletop was covered with trays of hot pizza. She clapped her hands together and smiled aggressively around the group. Annie returned the smile somewhat nervously before pulling her root beer up to her lips and taking a sip.

It had all happened so suddenly. They had been at study group that afternoon when the dean had breezed into the room, rubbing a hand across Jeff's shoulders on his way toward Annie. "Miss Edison," he had cooed with arms waving at his sides. "I just happened to notice in your student information file that today is the anniversary of your day of birth." A choked noise of surprise had come from the general direction of Shirley. Annie had cleared her throat and tried to brush it off only to have Shirley go on to insist that they throw a party that evening.

And that was how Annie had ended up sitting at a formica table in the middle of a Chuck E. Cheese on her twenty-first birthday, sandwiched between Abed and Britta. Abed had been told by Shirley in her strictest mom voice that he had to eat his pizza before he could go play games, and so he sat next to her with a jiggling leg and several pointed stares toward the arcade. Troy was chewing as quickly as he could, just as anxious to 'dominate skee ball'. Annie glanced across the table to Jeff, who was slouched away from his plate, punching his thumbs into his phone with intent. The askew party hat on his head was at odds with the irritable expression his face held. He had been very clear on the fact that this was not how he wanted to spend his evening from the moment the words had left Shirley's mouth. Still intent on making sure people knew his feelings, Jeff continued to scowl as he fiddled with his phone before glancing up at Annie and offering a tight fake smile that looked more like a grimace. She merely frowned in response, but Jeff's eyes had left hers as quickly as they'd landed and he had instead opted for shooting an imploring look toward Britta. He had clearly expected her to join him in his disdain, but Britta was currently scolding Pierce on eating a slice of pizza with some vegetables on it before going to play pinball, which he claimed was 'old school'.

Annie chewed her food silently as she glanced around the table slowly. 'It will be good family fun', Shirley had assured them that afternoon as she had swept out of the room. Abed chewed quickly and swallowed from Annie's left before shooting Troy a look and jerking his head toward the game portion of the building. They were both on their feet and racing away together. "Happy birthday, Annie" was called out as they exited in a cloud of cartoon dust. She waved at them before staring at her plate.

This was actually a lot like her family. Scattered and awkward.

"Okay, so are we going to wrap this thing up here?" Jeff asked with a glance at Shirley. "We sing, we eat some cake…"

"Jeffrey," Shirley admonishes, clearly angry.

"Can't you take a night off from being a douche?" Britta asked from beside her. Annie kept her eyes on Jeff, feeling a fresh wave of sadness wash over her. Slowly, she rose from her seat.

"This is why I didn't tell anyone it was my birthday," Annie said softly without making eye contact with anyone at the table. "I didn't want to have to watch people pretend to care about me. Just go, Jeff." She backed away from the group and wandered toward the arcade area, careful to not reach a hand up to wipe her eyes until she was sure she was far enough away. She walked over to where Troy and Abed were playing skee ball and watched silently for several minutes, turning down their offers to throw the ball.

It had been a last minute thing, he could have just said he had plans. Was it really better to come along and make sure everyone knew how miserable you were? She knew Jeff was a selfish person, but didn't think it would be this bad, didn't think he would ever be that hurtful toward her. Their friendship was tenuous at best, and he clearly didn't even care to keep it at that level. Annie swallowed, willing the tears she felt welling in her eyes to stay away. Soon it was going to start weirding people out to see a grown woman in a party hat crying in the middle of an arcade.

"Hey," a voice said from beside her and Annie stiffened. She didn't have to look up to know it was him and she didn't have to see him to know the look on his face was one of practiced embarrassment. Shirley had clearly yelled at him and he'd come to apologize.

"It's not a big deal, Jeff." She turned away and was walking as quickly as she could without drawing attention to herself. Unfortunately, Jeff's legs were twice as long as hers and he had no problem keeping up with her. "This was a last minute thing, I'm sure you had plans." She could hear the weakness in her own voice and hated it. What she wanted to say to him was that he was a sucky friend who could maybe find time in his busy schedule of copying off her homework and sleeping with random co-eds to pretend to care about her for a night. She wanted to punch him in the stomach. "No, you know what?" She stopped dead and turned toward him. Jeff's eyes widened in surprise but he mirrored her stance. "You suck." She exhaled loudly. "Britta was right. You can't put your 'cool guy' persona on hold for one night for someone else?"

"I'm a dick," he grimaced with a sincere nod. He glanced to his side to see a woman pull a young child away with a disapproving glance. "Sorry," he called to her belatedly. He turned his attention back to Annie. "I don't know why I do this."

"Neither do the rest of us," Annie answered, crossing her arms over her chest defiantly.

Jeff chuckled. "So, you're not gonna make this easy for me then, huh?" Annie simply raised an eyebrow at him. "I am really sorry, Annie." Annie pulled her lower lip into her mouth and chewed on it apprehensively. After a moment, she nodded slowly, looking down at the empty space between them. He shoved his hands into his pockets uneasily and kicked at the stained carpet with a large boot. "So, are we good?" She turned her face up toward him and swallowed before nodding at him, a tight forced smile on her face. Now was the part where he made his exit. She could feel it coming. "Then there is just one question left," he continued with a serious expression.

"What's that?" Annie asked.

"Does this place have that game where you hit things with ridiculously large mallets?" He looked around for a moment before letting his eyes land on her face again. "Because I? Am incredible with that game." He gave her a confident smirk, one eyebrow quirked. Annie grinned to herself. "You in, Princess Elizabeth?" Annie dropped her hands to her sides to keep from clenching and unclenching her fingers in front of her like a ten year old with an ill-advised crush.

"On one condition," she stated resolutely, her face a mask of sincerity. Jeff raised an eyebrow nervously in question. "With your winnings, you have to pick something out for me from the counter." She fought to keep her face straight as Jeff sarcastically rolled his eyes toward the 'store' that had the prizes. "I'm serious."

"I think I may have oversold my prowess here," Jeff replied with a chuckle as his eyes scanned the room. "There it is," he pointed. "We just have to push those little kids out of the way." Annie sputtered and smacked him in the stomach. "God, I was kidding."

They played countless rounds in a row, Jeff having to make three trips to the token machine before Annie decided she couldn't bring herself to smack any more dinosaurs on the head. He held their small ropes of tickets toward her, but Annie shook her head. "Nope," she answered. "I said you had to pick something out."

Jeff's eyes narrowed at her. "Crap," he stated flatly. Annie chuckled.

"I can't believe you didn't challenge that when I said it," she retorted as she followed him to the prize counter.

"I was so relieved that your request wasn't something way worse," Jeff answered honestly as he perused the items. "I didn't even think about it."

"Okay," Annie announced as she backed away from him. "I'm going to go see how many tickets Troy has won."

"Whoa, wait a minute." Jeff turned away from the counter with narrowed eyes. "You have to at least give me some ideas here." He gestured back to the teenage boy behind the counter. "He isn't going to be much help."

"He's right," the boy spoke up and Jeff shot Annie a pointed look.

"Sorry, helping you wasn't part of the deal." Annie gave him a falsely apologetic smile before striding away from him. She felt his eyes on her the entire trip back to the table and tried to tamp down the tingle she felt at that idea.

"How'd you guys make out?" Britta asked when Annie took her seat.

Pierce looked up at her in alarm. "Who'd she make out with?"

Britta rolled her eyes at the older man before turning back to Annie. "Did Jeff leave?" She looked over Annie's shoulder toward the exit.

"He's buying something with his winnings," Annie responded as she rose to help Shirley place candles into the store-bought cake they had brought with them. Shirley looked up at Annie in surprise.

"Really?" she asked, clearly unsure if she'd heard correctly. Annie simply nodded without making eye contact with any of them. A moment later, Troy and Abed came marching over to the table, standing close together.

"Annie," Troy announced loudly. "Being that it is your birthday, Abed and I pooled our tickets to get you something nice."

"Or as nice as we could get at an arcade," Abed supplied before he and Troy parted and pulled a stuffed elephant from behind their backs.

"You guys," Annie simpered as she rushed toward them. She caught them each in a one armed hug, pulling them together in the process. "This is so sweet of you." Abed held the stuffed elephant out to her and she took it.

"I think you should call him Babar," Abed noted as he glanced at the elephant as Jeff joined the group. His eyes landed on the elephant in her hands.

"Where did that come from?" he asked, pointing to it.

"You mean Babar?" Troy piped up from Annie's other side.

Jeff looked at Troy questioningly for a moment before turning his attention to Annie. "Troy and Abed got it for me." She brought the elephant up and hugged it to her chest. "Although he kind of smells like stale cheese."

"Yeah, I noticed that too," Troy said, his eyes still on Jeff.

"Man, I should have gone in with you guys," Jeff whined as he let his face fall into a scowl.

Shirley cleared her throat from behind them and Annie turned to take in Shirley holding the cake, lit with twenty-one candles. She was flanked by Britta and Pierce and they advanced on her as everyone sang to her. Shirley set the cake down carefully on the table in front of her and Annie bent over it to blow out the candles.

"Don't forget to make a wish," Abed called to her and Annie looked up and met his eye before she allowed her gaze to flicker to her right and land on Jeff, whose eyes widened ever so slightly. Annie closed her eyes and blew, extinguishing all the candles in one breath. Everyone clapped and Annie smiled to herself. By the time she had opened her eyes again, Shirley had moved into birthday party mom mode and was expertly slicing the cake into squares with one hand while elbowing Pierce out of the way with the other. Brita approached Annie with a piece of cake on a small paper plate that had the face of Dora the Explorer on it. "It was all I could find on such short notice," she shrugged as she handed Annie the plate.

"She means it's what she had in her closet at home already," Jeff spoke up as he approached them.

"Shut up, ass." Britta frowned up at him, but he just smirked easily in return.

Annie scooped up a forkful of frosting and pushed it into her mouth, carefully keeping Babar tucked under her arm. The sugary sweetness dissolved on her tongue and Annie licked her lips clean before glancing around the group. Pierce was giving a play-by-play of his amazing pinball victory to Abed, who was staring off into space. Britta and Troy were talking quietly at the table as they shared a piece of cake. Jeff was busy gossiping with Shirley, party hat purposely askew on his head. He looked up and met her gaze and gave her a smile that Annie was sure he would never bestow on anyone if he knew that it caused the corners of his eyes to wrinkle. She felt something in chest flutter and studiously ignored the idea in the back of her head about the ridiculous wish she'd just made.

After another piece of cake and a re-enactment of 'Sixteen Candles' in it's entirety from Abed and Troy, they all agreed they should call it a night. Britta suggested going out for a drink, but was met with lukewarm response. Annie glanced at Jeff, expecting him to agree to a pub crawl. He was instead not even listening to her and instead talking to Shirley about the drama coach knocking up one of his leads. Annie stood and put her jacket on.

"I have an early class," she said to the group. "But thanks everyone for…this." She glanced around the table. "It was really, really sweet of you all to do this." She grinned at Shirley, who was positively glowing. "Everyone have a good night." She waved at them before wrapping her scarf around her neck and exiting into the chilly Colorado evening.

Ten feet outside, Annie realized she had left Babar behind. She turned and ran into Jeff, who had exited holding it in his hands. She just stared at him.

"I didn't want you to forget him," he shrugged as he held the elephant out to her. Annie took it into her mittened hands.

"Thanks," she offered with a smile. He just stood there, watching her. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah," he answered. He glanced over her shoulder. "Well, I figured as long as I was out here I should walk you to your car." He dug his hands into his pockets and Annie realized he'd come outside without his jacket.

"How chivalrous," Annie cracked as he switched to her other side so she was blocking the wind.

"It was more that…" Jeff trailed off as they reached her car. "I just didn't want to give this to you in front of everyone." He pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to her. A small thick neon pink rubber band landed in her palm. She looked up at him questioningly. "It's a glow in the dark bracelet," he stated in an exaggerated tone, as if she should have known that right away. Annie chuckled at the sad piece of rubber in her hand before sliding it onto her wrist. "Except it doesn't really glow in the dark apparently." He rubbed a hand across his forehead in a frustrated swipe. "Hunter lied to me."

"So, it turns out we're not very good at that game then," Annie smiled up at him. He grinned at her.

"Yeah, we suck." He looked at the wrist when she held it up for him to see. "But, that can work for lots of other things."

"Really?" Annie asked with a giggle. "Like what?"

"Well, you could shoot it at people you don't like." He snapped it against her wrist. "Or you could use it as a hair tie if the need arises," he added with a gesture toward her hair. Annie nodded encouragingly. "And it can hold stuff together."

"Like a rubber band," Annie finished.

"Which is what it is," Jeff agreed.

Annie turned to push her key into the lock. "How much did this rubber band set you back?" she asked.

"About forty bucks," Jeff replied with a chuckle. Annie turned to him in horror.

"Oh my god, Jeff." She pulled it off her wrist. "I didn't realize it was going to cost you so much money. It was just a joke." Annie shook her head. "You shouldn't have spent that much." She held it up to him.

"What am I going to do with it now?" he asked, giving her a smile. "Return it?" He looked over his shoulder to the building. "I don't think that is how Hunter rolls." Annie opened her mouth to protest, but Jeff pulled it from her hand and slipped it back over her wrist. "Keep it. Something to remember this fantastic party by," he cracked. Annie forced a smile onto her face when his hand lingered on her wrist. She hoped he couldn't feel her pulse racing and consciously slowed her breathing in case he could. He coughed and backed away from her slightly. Annie reached up and adjusted her wool hat. "So, what did you wish for?" Jeff asked after a beat.

Annie pressed her mouth into a firm line. "If I tell you, it might not come true."

He blinked in the dim sulfuric light of the parking lot and she saw his adam's apple bob. "If you do tell me, I can make sure it does though." He moved almost imperceptibly closer to her. Annie pressed herself back against the side of her car without thinking.

"It isn't something you really need to hear, though." She said it very softly and couldn't make her eyes leave his chest. "Is it?"

Jeff leaned in, surrounding her before she could even pay attention and enjoy it. His lips pressed against hers softly, chastely. Annie barely had a moment to respond before he was pulling away again, his breath making clouds of vapor in the cold evening. "Happy birthday, Annie." It was a murmur, quiet and raspy in the space between them.

"Thank you," Annie whispered up to him, holding his gaze longer than she should. She smiled and opened her car door. Jeff backed away slightly and watched her in silence for a moment. Annie bent and placed Babar in the passenger seat of her car before straightening up and facing Jeff again. "See you tomorrow?" she asked again. He nodded and Annie smiled unsurely at him. "Thanks for the bracelet."

"Hey," he called just as she started to slide into the driver's seat. He moved into the open space, his knee almost resting against her outstretched hand that held the door. "Just out of curiosity, was that your wish?" He looked down at her, his expression open and questioning.

Annie looked up his torso, past the broad expanse of his chest and shoulders to his face. She remembered the feeling of his fingers lacing through her hair on a spring night, the way he'd pulled her to him so desperately. The way his hands had clung to her hips on a stage in front of two hundred people. Her face flushed and she grinned up at him.

"Not even close," she answered honestly with a smirk. Jeff's eyes widened even as he backed away from her. "Night, Jeff," Annie called as she pulled her door closed firmly.

She barely even noticed in the rearview mirror that he watched her the entire way out of the parking lot.

But he totally did.


	3. Chapter 3

Order had always been the most important thing in Annie's life.

The feeling when she woke up every morning, that feeling of knowing what her day would entail from start to finish. It gave her traction, something tangible to hold onto. Sometimes it had been the only thing she could hold onto.

Tuesdays she had toast with peanut butter for breakfast and wore a cardigan in the citrus color wheel.

So when he ended up next to her, his long legs catching her easily on the way to her computer class across campus at one o'clock on her twenty-first birthday and casually told her he was taking off and she was welcome to come along, Annie's instinct was to ask him where. And why. And when they'd be back.

But she didn't. Instead, she looked up at him, glaring into the sun high in the sky and studied him for a moment. As always, he was impeccably groomed in a way that said he wanted people to think he woke up looking that way. He stared off into the distance, his sunglasses exuding enough disinterest that people fifty feet away would be able to think he was asking about notes for anthropology class.

Annie exhaled before glancing up at him, all nervous fingers grappling with her backpack straps and shuffling feet in ballet flats. "What about your class?" she asked.

"I hate to break it to you Annie, but Home Economics is not that important to me." He paused. "Although they are making banana bread today. So you in, kid?" he asked, finally sparing her a glance.

It was the 'kid' that made Annie pause. He pulled his glasses down the bridge of his nose just enough so she could see his eyes. He looked at her so seriously that Annie felt herself nodding before she'd even realized she was giving an answer to his question.

"Let's go," she bleated out when she found her voice again and the next moment, Jeff's hand was on her back, directing her toward his Lexus. Annie looked back over her shoulder helplessly, hoping to catch the eye of someone she knew just in case this was the part where the seemingly nice guy took the young girl to the woods and raped and murdered her.

Today was Thursday. She'd eaten two egg whites and was wearing her blue dress and she should be walking into the computer lab right now. That was her life.

He pulled out of the parking lot as Annie fumbled with the seatbelt. "Gum?" he asked, holding out the pack toward her. She have him a quizzical look before shaking her head at him. "You okay?"

Annie furrowed her brow. "I don't know," she finally answered slowly. "Are you going to kill me?"

Jeff let a smile grace his lips. "You bet," he answered airily. "Yeah, I try to murder one coed a year."

Annie chuckled in spite of herself and shook her head. "Well, what are we doing?"

"Do you trust me?" Jeff asked, giving her a sidelong glance as he chomped loudly on his gum. Before Annie could respond, he continued. "I guess not, considering you think I might be homicidal."

"I don't think you're homicidal," Annie noted with frustration, smoothing her dress down over her thighs. "I just think it's kind of strange that you…" She bit her lip nervously.

"That I….?" Jeff repeated.

"That you asked me to ditch school with you," Annie answered in a stilted tone. "Just…did everyone else turn you down or something?"

"I didn't ask anyone else," Jeff chuckled as he pulled easily onto the highway. Annie tried not to think about that too hard.

"Really?" Annie asked. "Because this seems more like an outing for Britta or Troy."

"You don't even know what we're doing," Jeff reasoned. "We could be going to a petting zoo."

"You didn't leave school in the middle of the day to go to a petting zoo," Annie shot back with a roll of her eyes. "And how is that not better suited to Troy exactly?"

Jeff pulled his sunglasses off and tucked them into the flip down holder built into the roof. "Do you want me to take you back, Annie? You would only be ten minutes late for computer class."

"No," Annie replied defiantly.

"Okay," Jeff answered. "But if I am taking you to the woods to chop off your arms and legs and then have sex with your limbless corpse, that is a bad decision."

She was going to miss 'Wheel of Fortune' that afternoon.

The only traction in her life at that moment was that of his tires against the pavement as they drove away from the order of her life. She watched him, head turned to the side. She didn't even try to hide the way she gazed at him as he watched the road in front of him.

"What?" he asked after thirty seconds worth of silence.

"Well seriously, Jeff." Annie chuckled quietly. He raised his eyebrows but didn't turn toward her. "What are we doing?" He swallowed and narrowed his eyes into the sun. She wasn't sure why he'd taken his sunglasses off in the first place. "Jeff?" she pushed in a small voice before covering his large hand with her own small one on the gear shift.

"My mom is in the hospital in Denver," he said, still without looking at her.

Annie's eyes widened in surprise. That was absolutely the last thing she had expected to come out of his mouth, even more unlikely than him actually murdering her. "Really?" When Jeff just gave her a look out of the corner of his eye, Annie felt a wave of guilt rush over her. "What happened?"

"She fell off a ladder," he answered, as if almost asking for her to ask the imminent question.

Annie frowned. "What was your mother doing on a ladder?" she asked, unsure if she should be feeling humor or horror at the idea.

"Cleaning the gutters," Jeff replied with a roll of his eyes.

Annie let out a chuckle. "And why was she-"

"This could be a really long conversation," Jeff cut her off. "Long story short, she broke her leg in three places and split her chin open because she couldn't wait for her son to come up and clean the gutters for her."

Annie set her mouth in a firm line, keeping her eyes on him out of the corner of her eye. "Okay," she finally said aloud.

"Really?" he asked, clearly surprised that she wasn't demanding that he turn his car around.

Annie swallowed down the sudden jolt of adrenaline that shot through her at the idea that Jeff was bringing her to meet his mother. It didn't actually mean anything, it was just that she had been the first person that he'd seen that day. Annie's phone vibrated in her coat pocket and she pulled it out to read the text she'd just received from her cousin Katie.

Happy b-day babe! go get wasted 4 me!

Annie's mouth quirked up on one side before she pushed the phone back into her pocket.

"Who was that?" Jeff asked without taking his eyes off of the road.

Annie turned her head to gaze at his handsome profile before biting her lip nervously. "It was no one."

By the time he had pulled off of the interstate, Annie had looked through the entire music library on his iPhone and had ridiculed half of the songs on it. Jeff had taken the ribbing in stride and had merely replied that next time they went on a road trip, they could listen to plenty of Justin Beiber and that girl with the dollar sign in her name. Annie sucked in a breath at the idea of their 'next road trip', but didn't say anything.

"Okay," Jeff started as they entered the hospital side by side. "I'm going to go check what room she's in." He motioned toward the admittance counter before walking toward it. Annie lowered herself to an uncomfortable chair and glanced over the reading selection that was offered before picking up an outdated copy of 'Us Weekly'. A minute later, Jeff approached her and Annie glanced up at him expectantly. "You ready?" he asked, jerking his head in the direction of the elevator.

"Yeah," Annie answered weakly. "I think maybe I should just hang…here?" She raised her eyebrows at the look of terror that crossed his face. "I'm just really into this magazine," Annie went on as she lifted it up to show him. "Did you know that 2007 was the year that Britney shaved her head?"

"Annie," Jeff stated. "You can't sit down here by yourself. Come on up with me," he urged as he shoved his hands into his pockets. She gazed up at him unsurely and Jeff tilted his head down with a grin. "Come on, Edison." He held out a hand for her and after a moment's pause, Annie smiled up at him and took his hand. He pulled her up quickly and they moved toward the elevator in tandem.

They rode up to the seventh floor in silence with four other people and when the door opened, Jeff motioned for her to exit before him. "Okay," Annie said in an overly chipper tone. "So, what's your mom's name?"

"Dorie," Jeff responded distractedly before turning and grasping Annie's arm with one hand. "Listen," he said in a low voice as Annie turned to him in surprise. "I may not have been totally honest up to this point." Annie rolled his eyes.

"Jeff," she warned, giving him what she hoped was a stern look.

"Okay," Jeff threw up his hands in defense. "Look, it's not that big of a deal. I just…" He glanced around for a moment, searching for his words. "I haven't exactly told my mom that I'm not a lawyer yet."

"What?" Annie squeaked. "Jeff!"

"So, this is how this will work," he went on as if he hadn't heard her. "We go in, you're adorable and charming and entertaining and distracting and then we get back in the car and I'm good for another six months."

Annie closed her eyes in frustration. "Jeff, I don't think this is a good idea. I mean, if you're not you, who am I supposed to be?"

Jeff's eyes widened and he leaned down closer to her. "No, you be _you_." He turned and began to walk down the hallway before he realized Annie wasn't following him. She eyed him suspiciously as he strode back to her.

"Why?"

Jeff furrowed his brow. "Why what?"

Annie frowned up at him. "Why me?" Jeff shot her a confused look. "Why out of everyone did you ask me to come with you?"

Jeff stared at her blankly. "I don't understand the question." Annie rolled her eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. "Okay, let's just run over the candidates, shall we?" he asked in a hurried tone. "Britta," he started with a significant look at Annie, "would have reprimanded my mother for thinking it was her place to clean her gutters in the first place, because the world owns us, we don't own it." He took a deep breath. "Troy would have tried to teach her how to beat box, Abed would have made her watch 'Kill Bill Volume One' with the commentary track on." Annie rolled her eyes again. "Shirley would have led her in a hymn sing-along and Pierce? Would have tried to copulate with her."

Annie let out a giggle before swallowing it down and Jeff's face softened into a smile. "Milord," she finally said with a jerk of her head toward the hospital room. She watched Jeff's grin widen as she sauntered past him and down the hallway. A moment later he was at her side and they entered the room together, Annie settling behind his right elbow.

"There he is," his mother intoned from her prone position on her hospital bed. Annie watched as the woman came to life at the sight of her son and felt something well up inside of her. "Thought you would never get here, Jeffy."

Jeff winced at the pet name, but didn't comment on it. "I just had some things I needed to take care of first, mom." He moved forward and leaned over his mom to give her a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek. "You certainly did a number on yourself."

"The gutters needed to be cleaned," Dorie argued with a wave of her hand.

Jeff rolled his eye sand shoved his hands into his pockets. "And I said I would come up and _do_ them."

"Yes, you say that but I hardly ever see you anymore," his mother retorted quickly. Then, her eyes moved to Annie and landed there. Annie felt her entire face heat up at the scrutiny. "Hello," his mother greeted her warmly. "Jeff," she admonished her son, "aren't you going to introduce me to this lovely girl?"

"Uh, right." Jeff motioned between the two women. "This is my friend, Annie." Annie smiled nervously at the woman in front of her. "Annie, this is my mom."

"Doreen," she supplied as she held out her hand for Annie to shake. The younger woman took it gingerly before gazing at the bandaged chin.

"How many stitches?" she asked with a wince.

Doreen let a hand flutter up to her face and gently touched the area. "Ugh, eight." Then her eyes moved up and studied Annie's face. "So, how did my son ever convince you to come visit his mother in the hospital?"

Annie opened her mouth, unsure of what to say. Something about telling this woman that her son had essentially pulled her into his car without telling her where they were going or what they were doing just didn't seem right. "Oh," Jeff piped up from somewhere behind her. "Annie needed to get a…book in town, so she tagged along with me today." Annie turned her head to catch Jeff's eye and he held her gaze. "And she wants to work in a hospital when she gro- after she graduates." Annie smiled tightly.

"So, I know Jeff is taking some foreign language courses at a local community college so he can better serve clients," Dorie noted as she looked at her son. "Is that how you two know each other?"

Annie looked back at Jeff again for some sort of signal on what she was supposed to say and Jeff widened his eyes at her in response. "Yes," Annie finally answered haltingly. "We took Spanish together."

"You look awfully young," his mother announced. "Do you mind if I ask how old you are?"

"She's twenty," Jeff replied for her as he stepped forward to stand next to Annie again.

"Twenty-one," Annie amended with a smile to herself.

"What?" Jeff asked in surprise and Annie glanced up at him. "Wait, when was your birthday?"

"Today," Annie answered slowly before tearing her eyes away from his face to glance back at his mother.

Dorie smiled at her. "Well, happy birthday." She held the remote out. "I didn't get you a gift, but you can control the remote if you would like." Annie chuckled at this and moved toward the bed again before looking up at the television mounted to the wall.

"Oh, 'Wheel of Fortune'!" Annie exclaimed. "I love this show." She settled into a chair next to the bed and watched with Jeff's mom, the two sharing comfortable conversation every couple minutes. For his part, Jeff sat in the corner mostly watching them in silence. Every so often, Annie would look over at him and meet his gaze. There was a look of tranquility on his face that she had rarely seen, but was unwilling to read too much into it. After 'Wheel of Fortune', the program switched over to a show that involved people getting hit in the face and falling into a giant pool and Dorie quickly nodded off. Annie rose from her seat and Jeff mirrored her, meeting her in the middle of the room.

"I'm going to go to the vending machines," Annie whispered to him.

Jeff's eyes widened. "Oh, yeah." He motioned for her to lead the way.

"No," Annie answered in a more forceful whisper. "I am going to the vending machine and _you_ are going to stay here." Jeff blinked at her. "And when your mother wakes up, you're going to tell her everything."

"No," he protested, looking down at the floor. They stood in silence for what seemed like a long time. "Annie, she's the only person who actually thinks I'm worth something."

"That's not true," Annie whispered up to him, willing him to look at her. When he finally did, she could feel a surge of something flow between them.

Jeff closed his eyes. "I can't tell her it's all been a lie."

"She loves you," Annie reasoned softly. "She will understand." Jeff swallowed before opening his mouth to say something, but no sound came out. "I'll be outside," Annie told him with a small smile and she felt his hand just barely brush against hers as she left the room.

The fluorescent light of the hallway was a drastic change from the dim lamplight of the room she had just left and Annie blinked several times in rapid succession as she slowly wandered the halls aimlessly for some time before finally walking to the vending machine. She pressed the button for Peanut Butter Twix and then, noticing something, also got a package of Sour Patch Kids on a whim.

"Hi," a voice said behind her and Annie turned to see a man in scrubs standing there waiting his turn.

She smiled back. "Hi." Annie glanced down at his attire. "Do you work here?"

He glanced down at his own clothes with a nod. "Yeah, I'm an intern."

"Oh," Annie responded. "Is it like 'Grey's Anatomy'?"

The guy gave her a funny look before shaking his head. "No," he answered. "Our on-call room is really skeevy. I don't think anyone would really want to have sex in there." He extended his hand to her. "I'm Gavin."

"Annie," she replied, juggling her candy in order to shake his hand. From somewhere behind her, Annie heard a cough and she and Gavin turned to see Jeff standing in the doorway of his mother's hospital room.

"Oh," Gavin stepped back slightly. "I guess your dad doesn't approve." Annie felt something heavy settle in her stomach and gave a half-hearted nod. "Tell him I'm going to be a doctor though." He gave her a winning smile and Annie returned it with a queasy feeling before moving toward Jeff, who was looking at her in a way she couldn't categorize accurately.

"I got you some Sour Patch Kids," she said quietly when she reached him, holding up the bag. He took them gently from her grasp.

"I- thanks," he answered somewhat lamely before ushering her back into the room.

"So," Dorie said in a sarcastic voice. "Are you really a student?"

Annie laughed unexpectedly at this and grinned at the older woman. "Yes," she replied with a nod. "I am."

"And you really know Spanish?"

"Si," Annie answered and she saw Jeff smirk out of the corner of her eye.

"And you really are friends with my son here? He didn't just pick you up outside of a local church?"

Annie glanced over at Jeff and he was watching her with that look again and Annie snapped her head back toward his mother for fear of being caught. "Mrs. Winger-"

"Ms.," Dorie corrected quickly.

"- Jeff really is a good guy and a great friend." She sat in the chair next to the bed again. "Last Christmas, he fought the school bully because he'd been picking on one of our friends." At this, Jeff's mother looked up at him in surprise. "And when he won the paintball tournament last year, he gave his prize to one of the women in our study group so she could schedule classes around her children." Annie glanced up at him then and knew she wouldn't have been able to stop the look of worship on her face if she tried. "And when I needed a debate partner, he agreed to help me, because he knew I couldn't do it without him." She swallowed and turned back to Dorie. Something washed over the woman's face and Annie felt a trickle of dread creep into her, but a moment later the woman was smiling warmly at her again.

"So, I should let him off the hook, huh?"

Annie chuckled at this and shrugged. "He's not _all bad," _she conceded with an roll of the eyes and Dorie laughed.

"Plus he's tall," his mother noted.

"So he can get things off of high shelves," Annie smirked without missing a beat.

They finally left once Jeff promised he would be back up the following weekend to help her get stuff done around the house. The walk back to the Lexus was silent and unusually tense, even for them. When they had finally climbed in and fastened their seatbelts, Jeff finally turned to acknowledge her. "Annie, that was…really cool of you." Annie shrugged, not trusting her own voice to speak at that moment. Jeff just smiled at her sincerely before pulling out into traffic. Three blocks later, he pulled into a parking lot and Annie looked around confusedly.

"Where are we?"

"Do you trust me?" Jeff asked, sidestepping the question. He waggled his eyebrows at her and Annie chortled awkwardly.

"I guess," she finally answered slowly.

"Then come on," Jeff said as he climbed out of the car. "And bring your I.D."

Annie climbed out after him and looked up at the building they were at. It was a seedy bar, with half of its neon letters blacked out. "Jeff," she started uncertainly.

He slowly moved around the car until he was right in front of her. "Annie, it is your birthday and you just spent two hours mediating between my mother and I." He glanced over his shoulder and the bar behind them. "The least I can do is buy you your first legal beer."

Annie's mouth quirked up on one side and could tell that Jeff knew he had won. Pulling her by the hand, they entered the bar. There were two guys playing darts in the corner and a leathery looking woman at the bar playing blackjack on a computer screen. Annie raised herself primly to sit on a stool just as Jeff swung a long leg over his own. They settled hip to hip and their eyes met in surprise before edging away from each other slightly.

The bartender, a man with a tired face approached them and rattled off a hurried greeting before asking them what they would like. "Two of whatever is on tap," Jeff answered. The man glanced over at Annie.

"You got some I.D. sweetie?" he asked in a bored tone. Annie pulled it out and handed it to him. He glanced up at her and smiled. "Happy birthday."

"Thanks," Annie answered sheepishly and busied herself with putting the card back into it's protective sleeve inside of her purse. Then she looked over at Jeff. "No scotch tonight?"

He met her eyes in the bleak lighting of the bar and shook his head. "Not tonight." He seemed to be answering a question other than the one she had asked, but Annie didn't push. They sat in silence, watching a muted episode of 'The Office' on the television above the bar. When the bartender returned, Jeff held up a twenty dollar bill, but the man waved him off.

"Birthday girls drink free," he answered. Jeff glanced over at Annie for a moment before leaning forward and whispering something to the bartender that she couldn't hear. The man nodded his head and disappeared.

"So," Jeff asked with a sidelong glance at her as he took a sip from his mug. "What were you going to do today before I kidnapped you? Big plans?"

Annie shrugged before shaking her head. "No," she replied self-consciously. "No plans."

"Why didn't you tell any of us that it was your birthday?" he asked in a tone that told Annie he really was curious.

"I don't know," Annie answered honestly. Jeff gave her a furtive stare for a long moment before pulling out his phone and punching buttons. "What are you doing?"

"Putting it in my calendar," Jeff replied evenly. "So that next year, you can't pretend it isn't happening." Annie smiled to herself before taking a drink from her own mug. A few minutes later the bartender returned, balancing a cardboard boat with a lit candle in it in one hand and a stack of party hats in the other. He carefully placed the paper boat in front of her and Annie wrinkled her nose.

"What is this?" she asked, examining its contents.

"Chislic," the man answered.

"But," Jeff helped as he took the party hats from the bartender's grasp. "It's got a candle, so it's almost exactly like cake." He strapped a hat crookedly onto his head before placing one carefully on Annie's head. She couldn't help the giggle that erupted from deep in her chest as he arranged the elastic string under her chin gently.

"Just like cake," she replied softly. Annie inhaled, wanting to take in everything about that moment. The feel of the vinyl beneath her and the smell of the stale air in the bar and the way Jeff's eyes looked in the flicker of candlelight. Annie felt a tumbling sensation in her stomach and realized it was much better than the traction she'd been striving for.

"Happy birthday, Annie."


	4. Chapter 4

"Okay, so what are you going to order for your first drink?" Britta asked as she played with the cardboard table tent in her hands.

Annie shrugged before giving Britta a nervous look. "I have really never done this." She raised her eyebrows. "What do you suggest?"

Britta chuckled before turning more fully toward Annie. "Annie, there is no right answer here. It's all about personal taste." Annie frowned and thought fleetingly about downloading a bartender's helper to her phone, since her choice of drinking buddy was going to be no help at all. "So, why did you just want it to be the two of us?" Britta asked after a moment's awkward silence. She cocked her head to the side, a curious expression on her face. Annie faltered for a moment, not sure how to word the impulsive decision she'd made that afternoon to keep her birthday a secret from the group.

"I…" Annie took a deep breath, her entire body winding up with the stress of the guilt she was feeling. "I just didn't want this to turn into a repeat of Troy's birthday." She exhaled, hoping Britta would understand without her having to explain more fully.

Britta stared at the surface of the bar for a moment before turning sharp eyes on Annie. "Do you mean Jeff and me making out?"

Annie absorbed the shock and pain quite well, considering. She clenched her teeth briefly before looking over a Britta with a practiced look of surprise. "Oh, did you?" Britta rolled her eyes. "What? Britta, I honestly had no idea that had happened."

"Well," Britta shrugged. "It didn't mean anything." She set the table tent back upright. "I just didn't want you to think that it was a thing or…" She shrugged again in the silence.

"Why would I care?" Annie asked, sounding lame even to her own ears. Britta rolled her eyes again at the younger woman. "Okay, well I may have cared at one point about that." Britta chuckled darkly. "But that was a long time ago." She shook her head. "I just…Troy's birthday ended up being everyone alone and sad and I didn't want Shirley to feel bad, and…" Annie trailed off with a shrug of her own. "I thought it was better that it was just one on one."

The bartender, a short man with thick fingers and a five o'clock shadow, came over and asked what they wanted. Britta turned to look at Annie, who only looked back helplessly. She rolled her eyes and laughed, before turning back to the bartender. "I'll have a vodka neat, four olives. She'll have a white Russian." He nodded before disappearing.

"White Russian? That's good?" Annie asked after a moment's pause.

"You'll like it," Britta answered, glancing up at the television that was bolted to the wall. "It tastes like melted ice cream." She glanced back at Annie, who had placed her hands primly on the bar. "So, you didn't want everyone to come, why did you choose me?"

Annie bit her lower lip. Honestly, she wasn't sure. She wasn't very close to the blonde, and in many ways, was terrified of her. Britta was everything that Annie wasn't, that Annie could never be. She was independent and free-spirited. She cared about really deep things like world hunger and the suffrage of minorities. Britta was the woman she wished she could be. It didn't have anything to do with the fact that, somewhere deep in her brain, if Britta was with Annie all night, it meant she wasn't with Jeff. Well, at least it wasn't a conscious thought that Annie had dwelled on all afternoon.

"You're kind of everything I would like to…be," Annie answered haltingly.

Britta groaned. "Ugh, you're not going to start singing Bette Middler to me now, are you?" she asked with a grimace. Annie just looked at her, completely confused. "Never mind. God, I am so old." Britta's phone vibrated, skittering across the bar. The blonde grasped it and flipped it open. She rolled her eyes at the text message and grinned slightly before typing in a response. She closed the phone just as their drinks arrived and Annie watched as Britta took a sip from hers before lifting her own glass and taking a tentative sip. Britta had been right, it was sweet, almost sickeningly so. Her phone vibrated again and Britta picked it up eagerly to read her new message. She smirked at the screen and typed something else, then closed the phone again.

"So, who's texting you?" Annie asked after a beat.

Britta rolled her eyes and waved her hand condescendingly toward her cell. "Ugh, Jeff." She sucked an olive into her mouth and chewed it. Annie waited for more of an explanation, but got none. "So, what do you think of The Red Door?"

"You mean L Street?" Annie shot out without thinking and then put a hand over her mouth in surprise.

"Whatever," Britta grumbled, tipping her glass up and emptying it.

Annie phone chirped from her purse and she pulled it out to check the screen. It was a text from Jeff. She felt a swooping sensation in her chest and flipped it open.

_Happy b-day! Y didnt u tell me?_

Annie frowned and her entire body deflated momentarily. She glanced at Britta, her eyes narrowed. "Why did you tell Jeff it's my birthday?" she asked, her voice full of quiet desperation.

Britta's eyes widened. "I didn't think it was that big of a deal, I guess." She frowned in confusion.

"He wanted to know why I was out drinking with you, so I told him." She shrugged. "Sorry, I didn't know you would care." Her eyes narrowed. "Why _do_ you care?"

Annie couldn't even place all the feelings she had welling up inside of her. It would take a great deal of time to label and sort them all. There was definitely jealousy there, at the forefront. The idea that Jeff apparently was so often texting Britta that she wasn't phased by it at all. There was also petulance, which she felt very aware of. It felt as if mom was having a private conversation with dad while little Annie sat on her oversized stool drinking her milkshake. There was a nagging feeling in her chest that Annie had actually asked Britta of all of them because it was a way of actually being closer to Jeff without actually having to ask Jeff. Asking Jeff would be ultimately heartbreaking, and Annie was far enough outside of the situation that she could see that ahead of time. If she thought it was awkward and stilted with Britta, it would be ten times worse with Jeff. Not only would there be the awkward conversation, but on top of that would be the elephant in the room that was her attraction to him and his heretofore unacknowledged attraction to her, which may very well just be all in Annie's head.

"I don't care," Annie lied through her teeth coolly as she lifted her drink to her lips again and took another drink. Although she was aiming for indifference, Annie could tell from Britta's expression that she had overshot it and had instead landed on angry defiance. She let her mouth quirk up on one side, an unspoken apology on her face. "I'm just…can we not talk about Jeff? Please?"

Annie's eyes were inexplicably drawn toward the door. It had opened and Annie immediately recognized the form that entered the dim light of the building. His arms were tight at his sides, hands shoved into the pockets of his dark jeans. Annie heard a whimper and realized with embarrassment a second later that it had come from her. Britta glanced over at Annie guiltily before turning back toward Jeff and he gave the slightest sign of recognition when he spotted them. He landed on the other side of Britta and leaned over in front of her.

"Hey, Annie." He smiled at her. "Happy birthday."

Annie felt the chill of the glass on her fingers, the tightness of the high heeled shoes she'd slipped on impulsively before leaving her apartment. She watched as Britta, almost in slow motion swiveled her entire body away from Annie and toward Jeff. They sat like that, huddled together in quiet conversation for several minutes. Annie turned to face forward and felt bile rising in her throat as tears pricked her eyes. "Britta," she trembled in a small voice, mortified at how child-like she sounded. Both of them turned to look at her questioningly and slightly irritated. Annie leaned toward Britta on her stool, keeping her voice as low as possible. "Why did you invite him?" she hissed.

Britta looked over her shoulder at Jeff for a moment before facing Annie again. "C'mon, he's a fun drunk," she answered with a shrug. Jeff smirked at Annie from over the blonde's shoulder.

"No, he's not," Annie replied bluntly, leaning away from them in anger. "He's annoying and condescending, and together? You guys are insufferable." She swallowed the rest of her drink and slid off of her stool as primly as she could.

"Whoa," Jeff spoke up as he stood up and approached her. "I didn't realize you would get so pissy about me joining you." He turned back and glanced at Britta before turning his attention back to Annie with raised his eyebrows. "I just wanted to wish you happy birthday."

Annie smiled sarcastically up at him. "Thanks," she spit out with a shake of her head. "I think I'm gonna go." She gestured in the direction of the door for a moment. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

She turned and walked as gracefully as she could manage to the door. She knew the tears would be coming any second, because her head was starting to hurt in that very familiar sense. Annie buttoned her coat before pushing out into the cool night and walking toward her car quickly. The door opened behind her and Jeff was by her side seconds later, his long legs having helped him catch up to her.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked cheerily.

Annie glared up at him before trying to pick up her speed. "Did you and Britta rock-paper-scissors to see who had to come out here and try to cheer me up?" she asked keeping her eyes trained on her car.

"Not quite," he replied. "Can you stop walking for a second here?"

So she did. Annie stopped dead, turning to face Jeff. "What?"

Jeff frowned down at her, letting his eyes tell her he thought she was crazy. "I seriously don't understand what you're so mad about here." He crossed his arms over his chest. "If it's that big of a deal for you, I can leave though." Annie felt the eruption before it happened, but was helpless to do anything about it. She let out a loud aggravated scream before bringing her hands up to cover her face. "Hey, are you upset about something?" he asked brightly.

"I just wish," Annie started unsurely as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I just wish that today wouldn't have turned into the Jeff and Britta show like everything else does." Jeff cocked his head to the side, his expression unreadable. "It's like…you are apparently texting her constantly and then you jump when she says to come down here and…" She trailed off sadly.

Jeff rolled his eyes at her and Annie held back the urge to smack him in the nose again. "For your information, I texted Britta to ask who got sent home on 'Top Model' and I came down here because it's your birthday and I wanted to see you."

"Which is why you barely said a word to me before sitting down next to her," Annie shot back, letting her anger get the better of her. "It's always about Britta, isn't it?"

"Jesus, Annie." Jeff rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. "Can we not do your weird high school drama thing please?" Annie gave a short nod before turning and continuing to her car. "You know that if I had sat down next to you, we wouldn't have heard the end of it from Britta all night."

"You would never sit next to me," Annie shot back. "Because you're terrified of anyone getting the impression that you might actually have feelings for me that extend beyond that of a classmate."

"Yeah, well that's because you're a kid." She stopped and turned toward him slowly and could see the change take over his face, could tell he wished he hadn't said it. He closed his eyes for a moment. "Annie…"

"You have made this birthday really special," she noted in a trembling voice. "Can I go now?"

"Annie," he grumbled, his voice rising in volume. "Can we please just give it a rest with the whole…" He gestured between them. "…thing?"

Annie frowned at him. "In case you haven't noticed yet, I kind of like you Jeff."

"Well, you shouldn't." His answer was instantaneous.

"Ugh," Annie groaned in frustration. "Because you're too old for me."

"No," he answered with a shake of his head. "Because you're too good for me." Annie rolled her eyes and him and Jeff gave her a serious look. "I'm serious, Annie. I'm a…selfish, cynical asshole." He shoved his hands into his pockets again.

Annie waited for him to say more, but nothing came. They each stilled in the parking lot, ignoring the hoots and hollers of passing drunks. "Well then. There it is," she murmured quietly to herself.

"Come back inside," he implored, giving her what he clearly thought was an adorable look.

She gazed at him evenly, waiting for him to settle into silence before she spoke again. Summoning all of the strength she had in herself, Annie shook her head slowly. "No."

"Annie."

"No, you're right." She stuffed her hands into the pockets of her coat and gave him a tight, sad smile. "Goodnight, Jeff." Annie spun away from him and continued to her car slowly. She knew he was watching her, but didn't look back.

* * *

He'd called her a kid.

He'd called her a kid and then had basically told her she needed to get over him because it wasn't going to happen.

Annie pulled her car into the spot at the rear of the parking lot and slowly climbed out. She wasn't in any hurry to get upstairs, but had nowhere else to go. She trudged toward the outdoor staircase that was used for second floor access. At least that way, she didn't have to meander through the cramped shelves in Dildopolis. The paper bag in her left hand felt heavier than she knew it really was, and Annie found herself tightening her grip on the object inside to ensure it didn't fall from her grasp.

Overall, it hadn't been the worst birthday of her life. That honor was still reserved for her fourteenth, in which she had two of the fifteen girls she's invited actually show up. It had been demoralizing to an extent Annie hadn't been sure had existed.

Until today.

Okay, so maybe a tie for worst birthday.

She hadn't even noticed the person on the stairs until she was already on the first one and then jumped when she realized who it was. "Hey," he said in an easy tone that came from years of attempting to charm women that weren't prepared for it.

"What do you want, Jeff?" She could feel the headache forming between her eyes and wanted nothing more than to curl up in bed, get some sleep and pretend that this day hadn't happened.

"Have you been driving around this entire time?" Jeff asked, ignoring her question as he glanced at his watch.

"I'm not drunk, if that's what you're wondering." She moved casually up another step. "I had like half a drink. Whatever buzz I had is definitely gone now."

"White Russians suck," he replied.

"Yeah," Annie agreed with a nod. She cleared her throat. "You didn't need to come here to make sure I was okay, Jeff."

"Maybe I was in the neighborhood doing some shopping," he retorted quickly with a nod toward the entrance to the store. "I heard about their sale on lubricants and had to get down here."

"Ew," Annie muttered before climbing another step. "Well, I'm home. So you can go back to the bar and do whatever it is you…" She trailed off, not knowing how to end that sentence without sounding like a jealous teenager. One glance at Jeff told her that stopping hadn't helped her in that mission. He grinned at her in an almost lazy manner, fully trusting his ability to charm her.

She really wished it wasn't working.

"You want some company?" he asked with a nod toward the paper bag she was holding.

Annie glanced down before shaking her head. "No, that's okay. I'm really fine, Jeff." She offered him a tight smile. "I'm sorry for…what happened earlier." She climbed another step, expecting him to slide over for her to pass. When he didn't, she sighed and finally held his gaze. "You really can go back to Britta," she continued, trying not to let her irritation show.

"Britta annoys me," he replied as he rose to his feet and gestured for her to lead the way to her apartment. Annie eyed him uncertainly before slowly moving up the rest of the flight of stairs. "So, this place is nice." His voice had that overly-cheery quality to it again. The one that made her want to bury her elbow in his gut. He was patronizing her. After everything else that had happened between them that night, Jeff had the wherewithal to patronize her, treat her with sarcasm.

Treat her as if everything was still the same between them.

She reached the landing and yanked the door open before gesturing for Jeff to go ahead of her. Instead, he raised a hand over her head to press the door back further and directed her inside. Annie met his gaze for second before moving down the dim and dingy hallway. "Are you worried about being murdered in this building, Annie?" Jeff asked then and she could hear from his tone that he was being at least partially serious.

"I've got four different locks on my door," she replied as they approached her door. He reached out and pulled the paper bag from her grasp and Annie looked up at him uncertainly. She waited for him to nod before she dug into her coat pocket to retrieve her keys and set to work unlocking her door. Jeff leaned closer to her and Annie stiffened as his scent enveloped her.

"That guy is staring at me," he murmured to the back of her head and she turned her head to look down the hallway. Mr. Kastronos was indeed standing at the end of the hall, just outside his own apartment, watching them quietly. "I bet he smells like sausage," Jeff noted softly and Annie let out a chuckle before ushering him into the finally open apartment. "This place is tiny," he said as soon as she flipped the light on.

"I don't have that much stuff," Annie argued lightly with a shrug. Spying something she'd left on her bed earlier while getting dressed, she stalked past him to pick up the garment that was strewn there, trying not to be obvious about it.

"Annie," Jeff said. "I've seen a bra before."

She frowned. "Not one of mine," she shot back as she stuffed it inelegantly into the top drawer of her dresser.

"Um, yes I have." Annie dropped her mouth open in shock.

"When?" she demanded.

"Do you not remember that time we all got naked together in the study room looking for your pen?" he asked by way of answer, his eyebrows raising significantly.

"Wait, you peeked?" she accused. She crossed her arms over her chest.

"Yeah," he replied as if it had been a stupid question.

"Jeff," she hissed and he shrugged.

"If it makes you feel better, I peeked at Shirley too." Annie gasped.

"I can't believe that you would do that," she said.

He laughed at her then. "Why can't you believe that?" he asked. She sputtered wordlessly in response. "Instead of being incensed that I looked, you should really be worrying about that fact that Pierce probably did too." Annie's eyes widened. "Yeah," he agreed with a slow nod.

"Ew," she whined as she moved toward her kitchen, where Jeff met her with the paper bag. She opened her cupboard and extracted a drinking glass before looking over as he pulled the bottle from the bag.

"This is actually not that cheap," he noted in surprise as she handed him a glass. He looked at her other hand. "Where's your glass?"

"I don't drink," Annie answered with a shake of her head and Jeff furrowed his brow. "It's part of the recovery process." She shrugged. "I don't really drink." She opened her mouth to say more.

He sighed. "You live in the Greendale ghetto and you bought a thirty dollar bottle of vodka that you aren't going to drink? Why?"

"Just…in case?" Annie replied, glancing up to see Jeff's reaction. His expression became concerned and he let out a quiet sigh. "I'm not going to have some kind of relapse because you don't want to have sex with me, Jeff." He stiffened, and both of their eyes widened. "Sorry, that isn't…I shouldn't have phrased it like that." She grimaced at her own words. Why did she have to make everything awkward between them all the time? Why couldn't she just leave well enough alone? "Jeff, I think you're amazing. And… I know you think that …us is a terrible idea and you probably don't even feel that way about me…" His expression hardened. "But that doesn't change the way I feel about you," Annie continued and took a deep breath.

She let out a sigh.

Would it be rude to turn the lights off and crawl into bed right now? Jeff could show himself out. Her neighbor _probably_ wouldn't murder him in the hallway. Annie glanced up at him unsurely only to find Jeff watching her intensely, seeming as if he was doing a complex math problem in his head. She swallowed over the lump in her throat and saw Jeff's expression make a minute change. He placed his glass on the counter and stepped toward her. It took all of Annie's will not to shuffle backwards.

"Annie," Jeff said in a soft voice, stooping low enough to be almost at eye level with her. She held her breath. "I came to the bar to see you." Annie inhaled sharply. "I wasn't going to ignore you," he exhaled.

Oh god.

He was going to kiss her.

Wasn't he? It felt like he was going to kiss her. But…did she want him to kiss her? No, not in this way at least. He was pitying her. That was how he'd ended up at her apartment in the first place. He felt guilty for being a jerk on her birthday and was going to try to resolve whatever awkwardness there was between them before school tomorrow. It would be too easy to kiss him, allow herself to be swept away by the sensations that she still remembered so well. But then what would happen? Things would go back to status quo.

"I think you should go," Annie murmured, finally stepping away as she averted her eyes from him.

They stood quietly in her kitchen, a foot of space between them, and she listened to Jeff breathe in and out. "Do you _want_ me to go or do you just think I should?"

She cautiously met his eye and licked her lips. "I…think you should?" His eyes narrowed ever so slightly and Annie felt something tighten in her belly. Jeff let his mouth quirk up on one side. "This isn't funny!" She stomped her foot and Jeff glanced downward.

"You're wearing heels," he noted, more to himself than to her.

"Yeah," Annie agreed. "I wanted to feel like a grown-up." She sighed loudly.

"Annie….." Jeff brought a hand up to scratch at his stubble-laden cheek. "Do you really think that I would have driven all the way here without knowing why?" She furrowed her brow in confusion. "That I would think about kissing you if I didn't want to?"

Was she still breathing?

She couldn't tell.

"I don't know," Annie answered honestly. "No?" He moved toward her, dipping his head down to hers. 'I have an addictive personality," she muttered a second before his lips landed on hers. Jeff pulled away, looking at her quizzically. "It was Troy and then it was pills and then it was Troy again," she explained quickly, the words tumbling out of her mouth almost against her will. "I just wanted to warn you that you might be the next victim," Annie breathed out as her eyes searched his.

Jeff's eyebrows rose. "I'm not _already_ the next victim?"

"And the other problems aren't going to go away, either. Annie shook her head. "You are still a jerk and I'm still a kid. "

"I don't think so," Jeff argued with a smirk. "You're wearing heels."

"I'm just going to get harder to shake," she cautioned him.

He blinked slowly. "I'm aware of your personality, Annie."

"And you still want to kiss me?" she asked with wide eyes.

"Stop making me think about it," Jeff replied. He leaned down. "Happy birthday," he murmured.

And then he couldn't talk anymore.


	5. Chapter 5

Annie took a deep breath and let it out before peeking around the pillar she was hiding behind. Jeff sat alone at a booth in the middle of the almost completely empty cafeteria. Squaring her shoulders, she strode forward and took a seat opposite him. He nodded slightly, acknowledging her presence before turning back to his macaroni.

After a minute's silence, Annie cleared her throat. Jeff glanced up, his eyebrows raised in question. "I was just wondering…" Annie trailed off unsurely, chickening out. "…if you have the anthropology notes for the quiz today?"

Jeff smirked. "I hope that means that you're offering them to me."

Annie reached into her backpack and handed him a stapled stack of papers before placing her hands on the table primly. "It's my birthday tomorrow," she stated, as if she was just realizing it at that moment.

Jeff's face cleared and he offered her a genuinely warm smile. "Really?" he asked, cocking his head to the side. "Let me guess…forty- three?" he asked with a smirk. Annie narrowed her eyes in response before trying unsuccessfully to smother a grin. "See what I did? Was make you way older."

"I got it," Annie remarked sarcastically.

Jeff took a sip from his Red Bull. "So, what do you want for your birthday?"

Annie leveled him with a stare. "Sex."

Jeff froze and blinked at her a few times in rapid succession. Annie watched as he swallowed in an exaggerated fashion and then glanced at his watch. "Well, I have forty-five minutes before my next class. Would you like me to ask Leonard to leave us in peace?" Annie glanced to her left and stared at the old man, who was currently battling an orange. He looked up at the mention of his name and gave them the finger.

"Ew, no." Annie wrinkled her nose up before turning back to Jeff. "I made a reservation at a hotel for tomorrow night, and I was thinking-"

"Holy crap," Jeff interrupted with a strangled hiss. Annie blinked at him. "You're actually serious, aren't you?" Annie frowned at him. "You want to have sex."

Annie nodded firmly. "Yes." She cleared her throat. "With you."

"No." He shook his head. "You're joking. Right?"

Annie shook her head. "Jokes start with 'knock knock'."

Jeff stared at her, his jaw tensed. "Yeah, see…I was thinking of getting you maybe…like an iTunes gift card." He pursed his lips for comic effect, but Annie didn't grin.

"I've been giving it a lot of thought," she explained, careful to keep her eyes on the table as she made her point. Looking at him would make her crumble in two seconds.

Jeff raised his sugar-free Red Bull can to his lips again and took a drink. "I'm sure you have," he smarmed and Annie, despite her best effort, felt her cheeks heat up. He leaned forward and Annie looked up at him through her thick lashes. "Annie, I'm flattered. I really am." Jeff sat back and Annie allowed her gaze to follow him. "But I don't think I need to go into how bad of an idea this is."

"You do," Annie stated in a slightly tremulous voice, staring at the forgotten macaroni on his plate.

Jeff paused. "Sorry?"

Annie bit her upper lip in consternation before clarifying. "Why is it a bad idea?"

Jeff gave her a look of alarm, his mouth open, before exhaling loudly. "Okay." He grimaced as he leaned forward again, resting his forearms on the Formica tabletop between them. "Annie, I know that you think there is something between us." Annie watched as he stumbled over his next sentence and paused to scrub a large hand over his face in frustration. "Which is…" He took a deep breath and Annie rolled her eyes.

"Jeff," she said in a low voice. He met her eyes for a brief moment before glancing down at his hands clasped in front of him. "Whatever may or may not be going on with us…" Her mouth twitched. "Look. Yes, I think there is something here, but that is something that has to be there on both…sides…" She gestured at the space between them. "…for it to be real in any way." Annie deflated at the look of guilt on Jeff's face. "And that isn't the case, so…"

Jeff closed his eyes tightly and frowned. "Annie, I can't just-"

"Relax," she interrupted quickly. "I just…okay, at some point I am likely going to be rid of whatever magical force field you've built around me and you may want to sleep with me."

"It's not a matter of not _wanting_ to," Jeff sighed, and Annie felt his leg start to jiggle in agitation under the table. "It's…"

"Stop interrupting," Annie shot out and Jeff stilled. He inhaled and watched her in silence. "As I was saying, you have almost no will at all to speak of and at some point we are going to end up in bed together. It's inevitable." Jeff opened his mouth to protest, but Annie just shot him an exasperated look and he closed it again with a snap. "All I'm saying is that is should be sooner rather than later." She gestured for him to speak.

"And if it ruins our friendship?" he asked immediately, as if he'd been holding the question in his mouth for several minutes.

Annie shrugged. "Then I guess we weren't that good of friends to begin with."

Jeff frowned again. "So, this is no strings attached sex."

"Yup," Annie agreed with a curt nod. "We're just ripping a band-aid off."

Jeff looked gob smacked. She gave herself a mental pat on the back for turning the usually loquacious man in front of her into a mute. "This is the strangest proposition I've ever gotten, and I have had some really-"

"Okay," Annie waved him off. "Ew."

"Annie," his voice was very quiet and Annie had to strain to hear him. "Did you go see that movie with Ashton Kutcher and Queen Amadala?"

Annie furrowed her brow in confusion before getting it and rolling her eyes at him. "Jeff, I'm not under some delusion that having sex with me will cause you to fall hopelessly in love with me." Jeff raised an eyebrow. "But I also think it's unfair that I'm the only female that you keep at arm's length." She crossed her arms over her chest petulantly. "And I don't want to be the only woman on campus who you haven't slept with." Jeff sighed and closed his eyes. Annie took a deep steadying breath. She was almost home free. "And I mean, according to Britta, sleeping with you is more likely to make me _lose _feelings for you."

Jeff's eyes flew open in horror. "What's that supposed to mean?" he squeaked.

Annie kept her face as straight as possible. "Oh, nothing. She just has given the impression that it isn't that good."

He eyed her warily for a moment before allowing his face to soften thoughtfully. "And how long do I have before I have to make this huge decision."

Annie looked over her shoulder at the clock on the wall. "I have class in a couple minutes." She turned back to give him a pointed look.

"What? Now?" he asked, his voice creeping into a high register. "I have to decide this right now with Garrett ten feet away from me eating a burrito?" Annie turned her head to the right and took in the sight Jeff had just described with a scrunched up face. She sighed and rose from her seat.

"Jeff, it's not a big deal. I just thought…" She trailed off, tucking her hair behind her ear as she hauled her backpack onto her shoulder. "I'll just ask Troy," she finished as she turned from him and began to march away.

"Wait, what?" Jeff called after her. Annie swallowed and spun to look at him, a look of practiced nonchalance on her face. "If I say no, you're going to Troy?"

"Jeff," Annie answered in a soothing tone that her mother used to use on her when she was little. "I completely understand that you think this is a big deal and don't want to cause problems with our friendship." She reached down and gave his hand a pat. He pulled it away, looking at her as if she'd just set him on fire. "But you asked what I want for my birthday. And I would really like to have sex with a man." Jeff scrunched up his entire face, as if he was trying to do complex algebra in his head. "Obviously, my first choice is you." She licked her lips and watched as Jeff's jaw tensed again. "Despite Britta's comments, I think you probably know what you're doing." He valiantly tried not to smirk at that, but just barely failed. Annie stepped closer, so her hip pressed against the side of the table. "However, if you are unwilling or unable to attend to me in this fashion, I do have a backup in place."

"Just so we're clear," Jeff asked with a narrowed eyes. "If I tell you I don't want to have sex with you, you're going to go have sex with Troy?"

Annie took a deep breath and counted to ten in her head. She waited until she was sure she had his attention before looking him squarely in the eye. "Yes." The adrenaline was shooting through her veins now and she could almost taste the victory she was seeking out.

Jeff stared blankly at his macaroni, deep in concentration. Annie watched as he mentally processed what she was asking of him. "You really….?" He glanced up at her, something close to desperation on his face.

Annie smiled at him reassuringly. "I have class, Jeff. I'll see you in study group."

"I…" Jeff coughed. "Yeah, see you later."

Annie offered him a tight smile and strode back out of the cafeteria, careful to keep her back as straight as possible. It wasn't until she was out of his eye line that she allowed her body to sag and let the air out of her lungs.

The next ten hours were spent at a level of anxiety that Annie had not experienced since her pill addiction. She played the conversation with Jeff over and over in her head, trying to pick apart every facial expression he'd worn and wishing she had a single female friend that she could actually discuss this with. She went online and searched for 'may december romance' on Google and was pleasantly surprised to see people on the internet were mostly in favor of it. Unable to simply sit at home waiting for her phone to vibrate with a text from Jeff telling her that he couldn't bring himself to do this, Annie drove to the mall. She was sure all she would end up leaving with was a Cinnabon like usually, but at the last minute she'd wandered into Victoria's Secret and had ended up buying a new bra with matching underwear. They were black and lacy, unlike anything that Annie had owned before. Together they cost what she would spend on gas in a month, but whether or not someone would be seeing them tomorrow night, Annie decided she needed them.

The next morning Annie was accosted by Shirley, who demanded why she hadn't told anyone it was her birthday. Before Annie could even get out her question, Shirley answered for her.

"Jeff called me this morning to tell me he wasn't going to be around today," she explained as she readjusted her large bag on her shoulder. "He has some sort of business with his old law firm today that he has to take care of." Annie let all of the air out of her lungs dejectedly. He had called Shirley to tell her he wasn't going to come to class all day. That was the most passive aggressive brush off Annie had ever heard of. "And he mentioned that it is your birthday today and we should bug you about it as much as possible." Annie forced a smile onto her face, knowing that Shirley was trying to tease her. The truth was, she felt like running to the bathroom and crying for the rest of the day. Subconsciously, she slid a thumb under her purple cardigan at the shoulder and touched the strap of her new bra for a moment before making a lame excuse to Shirley and rushing away.

Classes passed in a blur, with Annie not even caring enough to turn on her digital recorder to catch what she missed while she sulked through her day. By the time Annie dropped into her chair in study room at four that afternoon, she had fully committed to her deep funk.

"Seriously," Britta said in a flat tone. "What is your deal today?"

"Go easy on her," Pierce answered for Annie. "Getting older is not easy. Or at least that is what I have been led to believe." Annie glanced over at him and he gave her an understanding smile which Annie didn't return.

At that moment, Troy and Abed entered with Shirley on their heels. Troy wore a party hat and Abed carried a large pie in his arms, complete with two large number candles wedged into the top crust. They grandly placed it on the table in front of her and despite every mental lecture Annie had put herself through that day, she grinned up that them sincerely.

"Thanks you guys," she said as she examined the pie. "But can I ask, why a pie?"

"Because pie is awesome?" Troy replied as if it should be the most obvious answer in the world. Annie nodded her understanding. She watched as everyone else in the room made eye contact with each other and then Shirley cleared her throat and began to sing.

"Happy birthday to you," she crooned in a smooth tone.

Annie felt her eyes well up with unexpected tears and had to stare down at the table as they continued to sing to her. She couldn't remember the last time someone had done something like this for her and knowing how fleeting friendship could be, couldn't count on it happening again. She felt her phone vibrate on the table but ignored it in favor of joining in with everyone else as they ate pie right out of the tin and all gossiped about whether or not the dean actually had a sister.

As Annie left the study room, she actually felt most of the weight she'd been carrying on her shoulders all day slip away. Jeff had made a decision, and there wasn't anything she could do about it now. She only hoped that the conversation wouldn't harm their friendship. Shaking it off, Annie stepped into the late afternoon sunlight and belatedly remembered to check her cell phone. Most likely, it was her father calling to wish her happy birthday and remind her that she should at least call her mother soon. But it wasn't her father, not even close.

Jeff had texted her.

Annie silently debated to herself as she stood frozen on the sidewalk. People milled around her, not realizing she was in crisis apparently. She could delete it and pretend like she'd never received it at all, since there was no way he had anything good to say after ignoring her the entire day. Wincing in almost physical pain, Annie finally just pressed the 'read' button and almost passed out.

_ok_

She re-read the two letters several times in rapid succession, convinced that she was suddenly unable to understand English, because there was no way he'd actually answered that. Maybe someone had taken his phone and was playing a prank on her? Annie frowned and stuffed her phone into her backpack as she rushed to her car, completely unsure of how he legs or arms worked all of a sudden. When she was a good thirty feet from her car, Annie stopped dead and stared in shock at what was in front of her. Jeff was leaned against her car, glaring into the sunset, party hat perched purposely askew on his head. She could tell from his body language that he was attempting to appear relaxed and indifferent to everything around him. Feeling her stomach tie itself into three hundred intricate little knots, Annie approached him slowly. He watched her silently as she came closer, but didn't move or acknowledge her until she was right in front of him.

"Nice hat," she offered to him timidly with a wavering smile.

He didn't return the smile, but simply looked down at her with furrowed brows. "Thanks."

Annie swallowed, her tongue suddenly feeling huge and very dry. "I…" She paused and tried again. "I-"

"I'll follow you," he said abruptly and then waited for Annie to say something. She nodded silently and watched as he stalked off, frowning at his retreating figure. What was happening? Quickly, she climbed into her car and drove without thinking to the Sheraton she'd made reservations at the morning prior. Her dad had sent her a birthday check the previous week and Annie had decided that this was what the money was going to go toward. Of course, when her dad asked what she'd done with the money, she was probably not going to tell him that she spent it on a hotel room so she could have sex with a much older man. She pulled into the parking lot, half convinced that Jeff had just been playing her and was not going to actually follow her. Annie had been too distracted on the drive over to even pay attention to whether or not he was behind her. She put her car in park and rested her head against the steering wheel, fingers squeezing so tightly they turned white. A full minute later, Annie raised her head and realized she was face to face with Jeff, whose Lexus sat opposite her own car. He raised an eyebrow and smirked at her. Annie grimaced back before awkwardly getting out of her car. He met her easily, standing in her personal space. The effect was dizzying to Annie, who started rambling almost incoherently.

"I wasn't sure you were going to come, or even give me an answer and I've been a little on edge all day an-" She was cut off by Jeff's lips pressed against her own. Two large hands cradled her face and pulled her more upright so he didn't have to stoop so low. Before Annie really had a chance to reciprocate, Jeff pulled away. She followed him for a moment before regaining her composure.

"Annie, relax." His voice was calm and the disinterest he'd been showing in the school parking lot was completely gone. She nodded up at him, trying to convince herself as much as him. "You're good?" Annie continued to nod, her eyes on his mouth. "Annie?" She surged forward and pressed her lips back against his. He sighed into her mouth and kissed her back for a moment before ending.

"Yeah," Annie answered with a short nod. She inhaled deeply before smiling up at him. "Let's go."

"You taste like pie," Jeff noted.

Annie grinned to herself. "Yeah, you shouldn't have skipped out on study group."

He followed her in to the hotel and wandered toward the elevator as she walked up to the front desk. After she had received her key card, Annie turned and strode in the direction of the elevator. Jeff leaned against the wall next to the 'up' button, shoulder pressed against the patterned wallpaper. He straightened up at the sight of her and pressed the button to open the door before gesturing for her to enter before him. They rode up to the fifth floor in silence, with Annie merely watching his reflection in the metallic door in front of them. He coughed low in his throat and Annie licked her lips, embarrassed at the physical affect he so easily had on her.

When the door opened with a ding, Jeff stepped off first and waited for her in the hallway. Stealing herself, Annie followed him and when she met his eye she exhaled loudly, her rib cage shaking. His mouth quirked up on one side, but he still didn't speak to her and Annie merely straightened her back and sauntered past him, making her hips sway as much as she could without being obvious. She slid the card into the slot and waited for the light to turn green before pushing the door open without a glance back to him. He pressed the door more fully open and placed a hand on the small of her back, effectively propelling her forward into the room. She let her eyes wander the décor before slowly spinning to face Jeff. He was looking down at her and Annie felt heat seep into her stomach.

"I'm here," he said in a low voice and Annie inhaled sharply. "It's your move now."

Summoning every ounce of courage she'd ever had in her life, Annie stepped forward and brought a hand up to his chest. His eyes dropped to watch her fingers as they gently touched a button on his shirt. Then with a force she wasn't aware she was capable of, Annie grabbed a handful of his shirt and yanked him down and kissed him. Jeff let out a groan that seemed to come from his chest and a moment later his hands settled at her hips, fingertips pressing into her sides. She kissed him aggressively, needing to put as much into it as she could. His mouth broke away from hers and then he was sliding his mouth down the side of her neck, peppering her with kisses as his scruff left a burning sensation in its wake. Annie reached up blindly and started to push his jacket off of his shoulders. He took the hint and helped her get it off before pulling her back to him almost possessively, crushing their hips together. Annie gasped in surprise at the sensation and then his mouth was covering hers again.

She was being moved backwards quickly and was falling against the mattress before she was aware of it. Jeff came with her, carefully holding his own weight off of her with extended arms. Annie reached up and started unbuttoning his shirt even as Jeff finally let his own hand settle against one of her breasts and gently began rubbing his thumb across it through her cardigan. Feeling a sense of urgency, Annie abandoned her own work on Jeff's clothes and settled for quickly taking off her own shirt. Jeff pulled up from the spot on her neck that he had been tending to and looked down at her with heavy-lidded eyes. Annie swallowed and gazed up at him unsurely. He smiled lazily and leaned down to nuzzle first the right and then the left breast and Annie felt her nipples harden painfully. She whimpered and Jeff chuckled, his chest vibrating against her own. Giving up with his buttons, Annie reached for the hem of his shirt and hauled it over his head. Jeff grumbled in protest, but quickly became distracted as he worked his mouth down her stomach. When he reached the waistband of her short denim skirt, he gazed up her torso and Annie nodded fervently without having to hear the question. Slowly, he unzipped it and peeled it down her legs, his hands brushing against the exposed skin as he went. On the trip back up, his fingertips skimmed the inside of her leg. Annie sat up and greedily reached for the fly on his jeans and worked it open quickly before pushing her hand into the opening of his boxers and touching him for the first time.

"_Annie_," he choked out and she stilled at the sound of his voice. It was like shining a bright light onto a crime scene or jumping into a lake that was on the verge of freezing. Suddenly, she knew this was all very wrong. He glanced up at her, his eyes cloudy and Annie slowly pulled her hand away from him before physically moving up the bed and away from him, cursing herself even as she did it. Jeff stared at her, his expression sharpening in the waning light that was bleeding into the room from the gap in the heavy curtains. She settled on her knees, arms wrapped around her naked midsection, and looked at him with wide eyes. "What just happened?" he asked quietly. He didn't sound angry or even surprised, just…curious.

"I…" Annie faltered and stared down at the loud floral print on the comforter they were sitting on. "I need to tell you something."

She could feel Jeff's eyes on her, but couldn't bring herself to actually look up at him. "Okay," he finally answered. She felt his weight shift off of the bed and heard him pull his zipper back up before she watched him out of the corner of her eye as he settled back into the armchair in the corner of the room. "Are you okay?" he asked and Annie nodded. "Annie, look at me." She finally glanced up at him and was immediately sorry she had. Jeff had a way of reading her that was unnerving and she was already literally naked in front of him, he didn't deserve any advantage in this situation. "What's going on?"

Annie frowned and tore her eyes away from his again. "I thought I could do this," she said simply after a moment. "But I…don't…" She shook her head.

"Want to?" Jeff supplied.

Annie let out a shuddering laugh then, and it surprised both of them. "It's definitely not that," she answered. "I lied to you." Jeff hummed, but didn't say anything. "I manipulated you …because…" Annie sighed.

"Because?" Jeff prompted slowly.

"Because I'm a selfish person and I know I'll never get to have you in any _real_ way." It was almost cathartic, talking this baldly with him _about_ him. "So I tried to use guilt and manipulation and capitalize on the fact that it's my birthday to get you to do something that you didn't really want to do." Her arms tightened around her stomach self-consciously, hoping that this was the most awkward situation she would ever have to be in.

"I see," he finally replied in a detached tone.

Annie swallowed down the sick feeling that was working its way up her throat and continued on. "But I think…I think that I don't want to do this…like this." She felt a rueful smile twist her lips. "If we ever do this, I want it to be because you…" she let her voice drop to just above a whisper. "…you can't help yourself." With a self pitying shrug, Annie slumped slightly against the bed.

Jeff expelled all the air that was in his lungs and Annie watched as he rose from the chair and moved toward her. She eyed him uncertainly as he bent to retrieve his shirt from the floor where she'd thrown it only a minute earlier. But instead of putting it on, he handed it to her, keeping his eyes dutifully on the bed as Annie gratefully took it and slipped it over her shoulders. "Annie," he stated as he sat down on the very edge of the bed. "I'm… really good at reading people." She looked at him curiously. "I was able to make a living as a lawyer without an actual degree because I'm _that_ good at reading people."

"Okay," she slowly said, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

He met her gaze. "I knew what you were doing, Annie."

She felt wave after wave of mortification roll over her in quick succession, making a hollow ringing noise in her ears and then brought her hands up to cover her face. "Oh my god," she moaned quietly. "You knew what I was doing the whole time?"

"Yeah, but it's not…" Jeff gently touched one spot on her kneecap and Annie flinched. "I told you, you're not good at being selfish yet."

Annie pulled her hands away from her face and stared at him. "If you knew what I was doing, why are you here?"

Jeff sighed and winced. "Because I _am_ good at being selfish." She narrowed her eyes in confusion. "Annie, I…" He ran a hand through his disheveled hair and Annie bit her lip at the thought of why it was in such disarray. "There's something here," he finally said in a quiet voice. "I don't know what it is and I don't know that I _want _to know what it is, because labeling it immediately makes it that much harder to deal with."

"I'm not crazy," Annie intoned, more to herself than to Jeff, "to think…" She glanced forlornly up at the ceiling. "I bought new underwear." She didn't know if she wanted to laugh or cry at the confession.

"It's…" Jeff trailed off and puffed out his cheeks before narrowing his eyes and nodding.

"So," she murmured haltingly after a moment. "What now?"

"Annie," Jeff closed his eyes. "At least right now, I am incapable of doing anything more than casual sex and you are incapable of anything less than a real relationship, so I'm not sure what else there is." Annie opened her mouth to protest, but Jeff stopped her. "And when we start throwing around phrases like 'Professor Slater' and 'no strings attached', things get even messier and…" he sighed. "I guess, in the long run I would rather be 'that old jackass from college who wouldn't put out' than 'the guy who was so horrible I became a lesbian'."

Annie laughed at this and physically relaxed more completely. In the lingering silence that followed, she spoke as honestly as she could. "I really like you, Jeff."

He let out what sounded almost like a chuckle at that. "I really like you too, Annie." She smiled at that without meeting his gaze. "It's because I like you so much that I don't think we should…cross that line right now." Annie closed her eyes, willing him away and hoping against hope that when she opened her eyes it was 2009 again. "I mean, if I didn't like you so much, I would have tried to sleep with you a year ago when we met." Annie's eyes opened cautiously and she watched him. "Or after the debate, when I really wanted to, or last May after the dance or last fall when you lost your mind and made everyone get naked in the study room-"

"You peeked?" Annie interjected, surprised at his candor.

"-or right now," he pressed on, his eyes sliding down to her chest, which was still mostly exposed. "So you might want to put your clothes back on soonish." Annie awkwardly scooted off the side of the bed and bent to retrieve her clothes from the floor. When she straightened, she caught Jeff's eye and he gave her a guilty smile. She rolled her eyes at him before shrugging out of his shirt and handing it back to him. They each re-dressed in silence, keeping their eyes averted from the other and then she dropped back onto the mattress next to him.

"Maybe not knowing is better," Annie finally said quietly. "Kind of …exciting?" Jeff turned to face her, but she wouldn't look at him for fear of giving herself away to him completely. "I just…I want you to need me or…need you to want me…" She shook her head, not sure what she was trying to say.

"Actually the lyrics go 'I want you to want me, I need you to _need _me'," Jeff corrected with a smile. "But that song came out way before you were born, so don't feel bad about it." Annie tried to laugh, but it came out more like a groan. "So…the band-aid is staying on."

Annie nodded. "Yeah," she finally answered quietly. "If we take it off, we might expose a wound to…something," she finished lamely, scrunching up her face at what she'd just said.

"You're enjoying that metaphor, aren't you?" he cracked with a smile.

"Please don't tell anyone about…this." Annie begged quietly. Jeff shot her an incredulous look.

"Damn, and I was planning on tweeting about it as soon as I got home," he answered, rolling his eyes at her in disbelief.

"Thank you," Annie intoned softly with a smile. He returned the smile easily, as if they hadn't just had a half-naked conversation about the possibility of having sex.

"Let's get out of here," Jeff announced, giving her knee a light punch. "We can go get birthday pancakes, my treat."

Annie eyed him in surprise. "Carbs? Are you sure?"

Jeff thought about it for a moment before nodding his head. "Yeah, I'll just do sit ups later." He motioned for her to lead the way out of the room.

"Like you weren't going to do that anyway," Annie shot back over her shoulder and saw Jeff grin. She opened the door and turned to face him. "Um, just so I know that all hope isn't…lost, in ten years when I'm fresh off of my first divorce and you're fully immersed in your mid-life crisis…?" she asked daringly.

"God, absolutely," he answered with a smirk. They paused in the doorway, closer than they should be for what had just transpired, and looked at each other fondly. Annie felt her heartbeat speed up and her stomach squirm slightly in spite of everything. "Happy birthday," he said in a voice just above a whisper. Annie smiled up at him.

"Thanks," she replied.

"Pancakes?" he asked brightly after a beat, effectively breaking the moment. Annie nodded in agreement.

"Pancakes."


End file.
